Career Preferences and Socio-Economic Background

Paul Schüle

No 395, ifo Working Paper Series from ifo Institute - Leibniz Institute for Economic Research at the University of Munich

Abstract: Career decisions, that is educational and occupational choice, are not only made by comparing expected incomes, but also by considering non-monetary rewards like social impact, chances of promotion, or the compatibility of work and family. In this paper, I use rich panel data from Germany to show that preferences about such aspects of a career as stated at age 17 are strong predictors of future earnings in the labor market. At the same time, these preferences differ significantly by socioeconomic background, and intergenerational income persistence is reduced by 8–22 percent when accounting for career preferences.

Keywords: Equality of opportunity; intergenerational mobility; occupational choice (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: D01 D63 I38 J24 J62 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2023
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-eur, nep-hrm and nep-lma
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:ces:ifowps:_395

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